


Five years

by enterprisecat



Category: Actor RPF, Star Trek RPF
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, Getting Together, I Don't Even Know, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstandings, Zoe is awesome and we all know it, sort of crackish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enterprisecat/pseuds/enterprisecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris’s smile grows even wider. “Yeah,” he drawls. “I have had sex with a man.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five years

_Why I wasn’t informed that you slept with Chris Pine?!_

Zach’s agent sounds exasperated, despite this awful way his automatic secretary changes everyone’s voice into some strange mutation of Donald Duck, not that it’s Zach’s primary problem right now because, well…

They’ve got drunk with Chris and the rest of the cast many times, the general boredom of promoting a movie mixed with excitement of being far from home encouraging heavy drinking. There was even this unforgettable moment when completely wasted Chris insisted on sitting on Zach’s lap for the most of the evening. It took collective efforts of Karl, John and Zach himself, whose attempts to get rid of hot body plastered to his lap were at most half-hearted, to sit Chris back on the chair. Still, Zach is fairly sure that was the closest encounter he had with Chris’s dick and as far as he knows the definition of sex involves sticking various parts of your body to various holes in your partner’s body or vice versa, all with mutual agreement. Not even copious amounts of alcohol could erase from Zach’s mind the memory of sticking anything into Chris, he’s certain of that.

Damn, Zach thinks, shaking his head. The last thing he needs right now is his imagination running wild so he focuses back on the phone is his hand which beeps gloomily announcing one new message.

 _Dear brother mine,_ it says, _as a representative of the Quinto family I strongly object to finding out about your hookups from TV. Especially when mutual friend is involved._

Zach eyes his phone suspiciously, wondering for a moment if group of crazy fangirls could hack it somehow and quickly dismissing the thought when the phone in question starts ringing, the caller ID proudly proclaiming this is Hot And Witty calling- Zoe would absolutely kill him if she knew Chris change her name to this on one of the many occasion he stole Zach’s phone to play with it and Zach never bothered to change it back.

“Zoe!” Zach answers immediately. “What happened?”

Zoe snorts. “ _The simple fact I’m calling out of my normal schedule doesn’t mean the world is ending. I mean normally it doesn’t. Zachary…”_ she falters for a moment as though searching for the best way of voicing something. _“Did you have sex with Chris?”_

 “Why would I had sex with Chris?” Zach protest somewhat helplessly, wondering if the whole world went insane while he was sleeping. “He’s straight!”

The ominous silence on the other side of the line says all that can be said about his chosen line of defense. The “we’re just friends” argument would probably made more sense…

 _“Oh,”_ Zoe finally says, the unasked: “But do you want to?” hanging in the air until Zach clears his throat and exclaims: “You’re the third person who claims I had sex with Chris! Why everyone suddenly has the same insane idea?”

 _“You know how Chris is everyone nowadays, because of this Jack Ryan thing?”_ she says, the distant sound of clicking on computer keyboard coming through the phone’s speaker. _“So he gave this interview yesterday, I’m emailing you the link right now… Okay, sent. Watch it and call me later.”_

She hangs up not giving Zach chance to ask if Chris actually went crazy with fame and claimed he had sex with his Star Trek  co-star in front of people that are not his friends-among his friends Chris always tented to announce the strangest things, no one really paid attention anymore. He opens his mail box with apprehension, scanning the short message: _Watch from 12:36_  and clicks the link.

Chris is wearing one of those blue shirts that somehow make his eyes even more ridiculously blue. Probably by contrast, Zach knows from his own experience how hard is to find something bluer than Chris’s eyes. The almost ever constant beard covers the pattern of scars on his cheek, his hair are tousled in this artistic way that actually requires at least half an hour of hard work, an easy smile on his lips. Zach simply stares.

The interview is longer than the usual promoting movie materials, over fifteen minutes and Zach finds himself listening to Chris’s answers, analyzing the differences between the media image and Chris the friend, noticing the subtle signs of annoyance with the interviewer, when The question is finally asked.

“Have you ever slept with a man?” the interviewer is smirking slightly in a knowing way, already anticipating possible reaction. Zach’s heart starts beating faster as he watches the grin slowly appearing on Chris’s face.

“Do you mean: have I ever shared a bed with a man or had sex with him?” Chris asks, his eyes somehow even bluer with mirth. The smirk slips slowly from the interviewer’s face but he masks his dissatisfaction with a short laugh.

“Sex, definitely sex,” he says.

Chris’s smile grows even wider. “Yeah,” he drawls. “I have had sex with a man.”

The interviewer freezes for a second, the audience in studio emitting a collective gasp while Chris seems to enjoy himself immensely.

“At university?” the interviewer asks hopefully, apparently more keen on having a famous actor to admit having some kind of “phase” rather than bisexuality.

“Nah,” Chris smugness almost pours out of the screen. “I was much more… well-oriented in my needs and desires. Actually I even remember when exactly it happened- five years ago.”  

Five years ago… 2009. A couple of months in 2009 they spent promoting the first Star Trek and for the rest of the year they were almost joined at the hip, doing practically everything together, from jogging to watching movies and on one memorable occasion buying a book shelf.

_Well, apparently they didn’t do **everything** together…_

Zach stops the thought before it can evolve into something bigger and uglier and tries focusing on the reason why people assume he was the one Chris slept with. No wonder here, he needs to admit that-all his friends and Joe knew how close they were with Chris that year. He takes deep breath, thinking what the hell is he supposed to do with being jealous of something that happened five years ago when his doorbell rings.

Zach drags himself and opens them, no bothering to check whoever it can be, still examining his emotions.

“Hey, man!” Karl Urban exclaims and attacks him with a short and very manly hug in which Zach can’t help but lean instinctively, too distracted at first to be surprised.

“How are you even in the city?” he asks finally as Karl wanders to the kitchen, apparently not bothered by four months that passed since their last meeting.

“I play in American things, remember?” Karl asks in way of answer and switches the coffee maker on. “As much as I hate to admit that, the payment here is better.” Zach observes him, leaning on the doorframe, his mind still only partially focused on what is happening in front of him.

Karl always knew how to make himself at home, even in Chris’s crazily huge and insanely overpriced house. Actually it was there where Zach has seen Karl the last time. The memories of Star Trek farewell party might be a little hazy in his mind but Karl’s presence at parties is always quite noticeable, to put it mildly.

“So,” Zach says when Karl searches for a suitable mug. “It’s really nice to see you et cetera but what the hell are you doing in my apartment all of sudden?”

Karl gives him a hurt look over his shoulder and comes back to rummaging through the kitchen cabinet.

“Aha!” he exclaims a moment later, a Star Trek themed mug in his hand. He, Zachary, Simon and Chris bought the whole set right after they finished filming the first part and somehow Zach ended with Jim Kirk mug, while Chris claimed the Spock one as his own. Zach obediently took it home only to put it on the very end the cabinet and promptly forget its existence.

“Okay,” Karl sighs with contentment when coffee is made, warming his hand on the full mug. “How did you manage to silence Chris for five years?”

It’s definitely not the question Zach was expecting.

“What?” he asks stupidly.

“Come on,” Karl says and sips the coffee. “We all know that Chris, despite all his obvious qualities about which you certainly know more than I, is not exactly subtle. So how did you manage to have sex without informing all your friends and family?”

Oh, here it goes after all.

“I did not,” Zach pauses, “not have sex with Chris.” He really hopes he put enough emphasis on the negation.

“Okay,” Karl says slowly, suddenly losing his interest in coffee. “So you didn’t have sex with Chris. Then who the fuck had?”

Zach bangs his head on the kitchen wall, the carefully built wall securing him from truly understanding that Chris had sex with some nameless man sometime during their year ruined with one accurate question.

“I don’t know,” he admits unwillingly. “I didn’t even…” he stops himself. Did even suspect Chris could have sex with someone? They definitely weren’t a couple so why Chris wouldn’t enjoy the pleasures of world with someone else. The dull ache that accompanies this thought surely is result of yesterday’s extensive exercises.

He comes back from his reverie to Karl’s quiet “Fuck.”

“Does Zoe knows?” Karl asks quickly and takes out his phone.

“Shit,” Zach realizes. “I was supposed to…”

He pauses, seeing Karl is already making a call and prayers silently Zoe didn’t call an ambulance or the police.

 _“Karl!”_ Zoe exclaims- Karl must have put her on the speaker- “ _Please tell me you’re in Zach’s apartment right now.”_

“Zoe, sorry,” Zach answers immediately. “I got sort of sidetracked for a moment.”

 _“I can imagine,”_ Zoe snorts but Karl interrupts her with quiet: “He really didn’t.” Zach practically can hear her turning serious.

 _“Okay,”_ Zoe says and Zach knows she’s gnawing on her lower lip right now. _“We all know it’s just a matter of time before tabloids journalist realize they have alarmingly huge amount of certain two actors frolicking happily through the major capital cities of the world and then doing domestic things together in L.A.”_

Shit, Zach hasn’t thought about it this way. It’s one thing to have your friends and family thinking you slept with someone but tabloids articles about it? Of course, there are real tragedies happening all the time but try living you life with a bunch of paparazzi on your neck for a week and you’ll realize how awful fame can be.

“So what am I supposed to do?”Zach asks with annoyance. “Step up with a speech about how I spend the whole year 2009 not having sex with anyone, especially Chris Pine? That wouldn’t be conspicuous at all!”

He pauses, seeing the massive frown on Karl’s face and the strange look he’s giving him while Zoe in the background curses quietly.

 _“The whole year?”_ she asks hesitantly. Karl is still frowning, frozen to the spot and apparently left speechless.

Oh shit. Zach didn’t plan to reveal this little detail from his life and neither he planned to live in celibacy that year, it’s just sort of happened. First the promotion machine, travelling from place to place, always surrounded by other people. When the whole spending all the free time with Chris happened Zach didn’t even give much thought to the not having sex with anyone thing. It wasn’t the first time in his life when his sexual activities were limited to quick masturbations while very pointedly avoiding any thoughts about blue eyed men with lush lips.

He flaps on the kitchen chair, suddenly way too exhausted to have this conversation and covers his face with hands.

“I don’t really want to talk about it. I need to think. Alone,” he murmurs quietly and surprisingly it has the desired effect- Zoe quickly says goodbyes and disconnects while Karl puts the mug in the dishwasher, pats him on the shoulder and disappears with short: “See you soon!”.

Zach doesn’t know how long he sits like this, folded uncomfortably on the kitchen chair, without paying any attention to the world around. So, Chris Pine had sex with a man. He wasn’t the first nor the last one. He had it while being friends with Zachary. Again- friendship and random hookups co-exists, always have and always will. The fact Chris decided not to tell anything about it could be strange if the situation was different but considering how secretive Zach was about his sexual life back then no wonder Chris chose against sharing. Not to mention five years and a couple of girlfriends on Chris’s end as well as boyfriends on Zach’s, yet another reason it shouldn’t matter at all.

And yet Zach can’t help but feel hurt as if having a ridiculously good looking friend and intelligent friend who is strictly into women was somehow better than having a ridiculously good looking friend and intelligent friend who isn’t as strictly into women as everyone assumed.

“Oh god,” Zach mumbles and out of habit stretches his hand to pet passing by him on the kitchen table-top Harold. The cat gives him a bewildered look, most likely confused by the desperation in his caretaker’s voice and makes himself scarce. It’s Noah’s cold nose touching his leg and a quiet whimper what forces him out of the chair. A huge puddle of dog’s piss is the last thing he needs right now, he would probably started crying while cleaning it, completing the scenario of bad romantic comedy.

He is walking Noah for over ten minutes, the dog sniffing happily at everything in his reach, when Zach’s phone rings again. For one crazy minute he’s sure it’s JJ calling in order to complain how irresponsible it’s to sleep with your coworkers when they already signed up for at least two more movies.

Simon. Well, in this pace JJ will be calling him in the end of the day anyway.

“Hi,” he says with a sigh, unsure of his possible reaction to yet another question about his sexual activities with Chris.

 _“Hello, mate,”_ Simon says almost hesitantly. “ _So, uh, how are you?”_

Zach should have predicted how fast Zoe can be, not only in her thinking but her actions as well. Of course she called everyone and of course she made them acutely aware Zach might be a little unstable right now. Sometimes friends who cares about you can be a pain in the ass.

“Hi, Simon,” Zach answers and pulls Noah away from a disgustingly looking puddle of unknown origin decorating the pavement. “I live. I’m walking Noah at the moment. What about you, any plans of coming to the US?”

He desperately hopes he’s sounding perfectly normal, rather than like he was on the verge of crying or destroying something.

 _“Right,”_ Simon says, tone of his voice ruining Zach’s hopes. “ _I don’t know, really, I’m working on something right now. So you are fine?”_

Zach shakes his head in exasperation. He loves his friends, he really does but not only Chris lacks subtlety from time to time.

“Yes,” he affirms Simon and wonders if Chris is being bombarded with phone calls with the same intensity he is. He misses Simon’s next sentence and almost steps on the road on red light, a quiet yelp from Noah alerting him about danger, his imagination showing him annoyed Chris throwing his phone across the room. He saw him doing it once.

 _”Hey?”_ Simon asks a little anxiously. _“You there?”_

“Hmm?” Zach says. “Oh, yes, yes. Listen, I’ll call you later, okay?”

He hangs up before Simon protests, noticing a text message from Anton but not bothering to read it, the image of Chris throwing his phone across Zach’s living room still fresh in his mind, despite the passing years. That day Chris turned out of blue, bringing two bottles of red wine and spent half of the evening methodically emptying them and making strange, growling noises every time his phone vibrated with new message and petting  Harold, who sat on his lap, while Zach tried very hard to ignore him and learn his lines. About midnight the phone was destroyed, its screen in shards, Harold was hiding under the bed, terrified -Zach spent three hours talking to him in calming tone before he came out- and Chris got thrown from the house with a warning.

They met the following day, Chris explained how shitty the previous one was without really explaining anything and Zach laughed, asking if Chris can get anymore Hollywood like.

Chris’s behavior didn’t make any sense back then but now Zach can’t help but think he knows the reason, what or rather who could make Chris destroy his phone. The mysterious man with whom Chris slept and gave his number without thinking about consequences, probably convinced he wouldn’t call him anyway.

Zach takes a deep breath and decides against calling Chris in the middle of pavement, especially when his apartment is only two blocks away. Noah is pulling on his leash with twice the usual strength as they climb up the stairs but Zach is too distracted to scold him and when they reach Zach’s apartment all goes forgotten.

Because on the silly doormat with green polka dots sits Chris Pine. He’s curled into himself, leaning his head on knees, his blue shirt wrinkled, and broadcasts that kind of tiredness that comes from sleepless nights and long flights but smiles seeing Zach, a little shyly and way too adorably.

“Hey,” he says quietly, his voice a little hoarse and unfolds himself from his sitting place before Noah has a chance to lick him thoroughly. Zach blinks and forces himself out of the shock of seeing Chris right in front of him while by all means he should be on the other coast.

Silently he ushers Chris into apartment, acutely aware of how gossipy his neighbors are, feeling way to numb considering how strong his emotions were just a moment before, the mild irritation at Chris’s strange behavior covering everything else.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, as soon as the door are closed, not bothering to cover his annoyance. No one should inform the whole world about his affairs- even if it’s more of a one-night stand-with member of the same gender and then fly the whole continent to sit on their supposedly best friend’s door mat!

“You are angry,” Chris observes and gives him this grin of yours that makes his eyes go all crinkly and adorable.

Zach frowns, pretty sure it’s not a reaction anger normally causes. Weird.

“Zoe said you might get angry,” Chris continues, stepping closer. “And if you do…”

He close enough that Zach can smell him, the mix his usual cologne, sweat and this strange scent of airplanes. He wants to step back but Chris’s eyes are too hypnotizing, bluer than anything in the whole world and Zach can’t help but drown in them, leaning closer to his friend.

Chris’s lips are as soft as he imagined, the touch of his mouth a little hesitant, careful and Zach knows he needs to stop it before he’ll drown in the kiss as well. He puts his hand on Chris’s chest and pushes back, gently but with enough force to make Chris aware it’s not a caress.

Chris steps back with a disappointed sigh. “You don’t…” he says quietly, in this broken way he acts every time someone he likes rejects him in any way, even an imaginary one.

“Not here,” Zach leads him to the living room and forces him to sit on the couch, while both Noah and Harold are observing them with quiet curiosity. He doesn’t offer anything to drink, needing Chris to explain his behavior right this moment.

“So,” Chris says, fidgeting on the couch and looking all over the room to finally fix his eyes on the safety of bookshelves rather than Zach.

“Chris,” Zach admonishes him when the silence stretches out, surprised by his own calmness.

“Yeah, right, so I didn’t planned to say what I said, you know, it’s true but I just didn’t planned but the opportunity presented itself and I just couldn’t pass by it,” Chris pauses to inhale deeply and meets Zach’s eyes with his own. “I just thought it could make you jealous.”

“Wait,” Zach interrupts. “You admitted to sleeping with a man to make me jealous five years after it happened, what’s more- during an interview I might have never seen?”

“It’s sound even worse when you say it like this,” Chris mumbles. “But you’ve seen the interview.”

“Because Zoe emailed it to me!” Zach runs his fingers through his hair, the weird calmness escaping him with every passing second. “Please, tell me what is that all about and start making sense.”

Chris shifts on the couch, again curling into himself, a sure sign of how unsure and lost he’s feeling. “So,” he starts and Zach forces down the illogical need to correct his syntax. “When we first met, we never really talked about relationships or sex, or anything like that, remember? I guess I never knew if you would want to talk about it… Anyway, I’m not even sure how he managed to omit this topic so completely with the amount of time we were spending together. I knew you think I’m as straight as it gets but I couldn’t figure out the way to say it there’s this little part of me that finds guys attractive.”

Zach finds himself nodding in agreement. Before his coming out topics of sexuality were always kind of danced around in his presence.

“And then this one night… You were on set, night shooting and I went to a pub and got drunk. Not the I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing drunk, just enough to get a little reckless. There was this guy, sitting across from me, if I didn’t know better I’d swear it was you… I don’t even know what I’d do if he wasn’t interested but he was so…” Chris shrugs. “I gave him my number, the stupidest thing I could do.”

“Why now?” the words are out of Zach’s mouth before his brain can register it. “It’s been five fucking years.”

Chris shrugs again, helplessly. “Because I am a fucking coward and then you had an official boyfriend and I thought that’s it, I missed my chance if I ever had any.”

“I broke up with Jonathan before the Star Trek promotion tour started,” Zach says, swallowing his anger. “You knew it, tabloids made sure that everyone knew.”

Chris shakes his head. “It doesn’t seem right. And, again, I’m a coward.”

“So?” Zach prompts and watches as Chris stands up and wanders to the bookshelves, his long fingers tracing book’s spines. When he finally speaks, he’s turned back to Zach, his voice barely audible.

“I missed you. With all this _Jack Ryan_ promotion and before that this time I spent in England, shooting _Into the Woods_ … We haven’t seen each other in months and I realized I can’t even justified flying to you across the whole country, because that’s what people in love do. And I did it.”

Zach freezes for a second, realizing what Chris just said and feeling the involuntary smile stretching his lips. He should be angry because of all the missed chances and opportunities- the stupidly cliché thought of kissing Chris under Eiffel Tower crosses his mind. Chris’s idea will most probably cost them new articles in tabloids magazines and sent a pack of paparazzi on their necks and yet Zach can’t help but let himself drown in the feeling of happiness.  

“And that’s why you were abnormally sincere in a random interview,” he says, shaking his head and stepping closer to Chris before he turns into coward as well. Putting his hands around him turns out to be the easiest and the most natural thing in the world, Chris rigid in his hold. “You were always the weird one, no matter what people seem to think and don’t even try protesting.”

Chris gradually relaxes into the embrace, leaning his head on Zach’s arm and chuckling quietly.

“I can live with that,” he murmurs quietly. “I can live with that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I know nothing about Zachary Quinto's activities during the year 2009. I'm sure he had a healthy doze of sex.
> 
> It's my first Pinto story and first RPF, it feels so weird to post it here. Also I made no research about both Pine's and Quinto's relationships in 2009, it's all fictional anyway. Please be gentle when it comes to grammar/typos mistakes- English is not my native language.


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